Evening Star Newspaper, January 6, 1935, Page 72

6 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 6, 1935. LITERARY MEN AND WOMEN IN CAPITAL Stories About a Few of Those Who Have Visited or Lived Here — Joel Barlow, Ann Roy- all and Washing- ton Irving in Early Days—Longfel- low at the Wads- worth Home—IF a- mous Books. BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR ASHINGTON cannot only lay claim to many notable literary people of its own, but un- doubtedly it has been visited in past years by as many, if not more, distinguished literary people than has any other city in the country ~—due, of course, to the fact that it is the seat of Government. Indeed, right from the very beginning of the Capital here, it had as residents such capable persons as Thomas Law, Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith and Joel Barlow, who bought Kalorama in 1807 from William Augustine Washington, paying ¢14,000 for a tract of land, which is now worth several million dollars, with improvements. Mr. Law married Mrs. Washington's granddaughter. Mrs. Smith was the wife of Samuel Harrison Smith, Wash- ington’s first successful newspaper owner and editor, and Joel Barlow perpetuated his name in the epic poem, “Columbiad,” which he dedicated to his friend and frequent visitor, Robert Fulton, who tried out some of his models on Rock Creek, close to Kalorama mansion, and Fulton—primarily a portrait and landscape painter—by way of reciprocation, preserved the features of Mr. Barlow in oil. Barlow lies buried in Zarniwica, Poland, where he died December 24, 1812, .Then, of course, while in the distant past, we might include the celebrated Ann Royall, not because of any particular ability she may have had as a writer—though she undoubtedly did have much talent that way—but rather because of her persistence in the field of journalism, where she made a name for herseif as one of the earliest woman editors in the United States, and in which she exhibited a fearlessness worthy of the best tradition of the American press. So far as known, there is no picture of her in existence, and her grave in the Congres- sional Cemetery is unmarked and forgotten, but not so with Ann Royall's work, for the Library of Congress contains e number of volumes of her “Paul Pry” and “The Huntress,” and her “Black Books” and ‘“Travels” safely stored away for the benefit of present readers and for the enlightenment of future genera- tions, How appropriate it is that her life’s work should be preserved in this great store- house of knowledge, as on the very grounds surrounding it once stood e building in which she lived and where she died on October 1, 1854, when the paper simply announced: “¥esterday morning, the first inst., Mrs. Ann Royall, at a very advanced age. Her funeral will take place this afternoon at 3 o'clock from her late residence on B “street, Capitol Hill, where her acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend without further notice.” She had passed her eighty-fifth year. BU'I‘ while the District of Columbia was still young, there came to Washington to visit his friend Gen. John P. Van Ness, who married the sweet Scotch lassie, Marcia Burnes, 8 man who many years later died after having gained all the literary laurels, both at home and abroad, that any one in this world should want, And this man was none other than Washington Irving. He made two early visits here; the first one in 1807, when he was only 24 years of age, and the other one four years later; stopping both times with Mr. Van Ness, though he is said also to have stopped upon one occasion at the old Union Hotel in Georgetown, which, in its reconstructed form, still stands at the north- east corner of Thirtieth and M streets. In 1807 Gen. and Mrs. Van Ness were resid- Ing in their home on D street, next to the southwest corner of Twelfth street, and east of the fire-engifie housd, doth of which build- ings stood there until removed a few years ago to make ‘room for the Post Office Department Building. The Van Nes$ house when visited The Commodore Wadsiworth residence, 1203 K street northwest, where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited in 1839 by Mr. Irving was a&lmost new, having been erected in 1804, and from here, on July 7, 1807, we find this celebrated man writing to Miss Fairlee, the actress. “I am now scribbling in the parlor of Mr. Van Ness, at whose house I am on a visit,” and in referring to Mrs. Van Ness, he said: “* * * g pretty, pleasant little woman and quite gay.” It was described as of brick, built in the style of the period, with a broad frontage, the second story surmounted by a sloping roof, pierced with dormer windows. Upon his second visit in 1811 he was, well entertained, and refers to this occasion in his “Life and Letters,” telling us that during one week here he had dinner with the officers’ mess at the Barracks (meaning, most likely, the Marine Barracks), a ball at the Van Ness home and a dinner with Gen. Turreau. He also at- tended one of Mrs. Madison's levees at the White House, which he refers to as a brilliant affair. He also dined at Mr. Latrobe’s, with the Secretary of the Navy, who was then Paul Hamilton of South Carolina, and attended a ball at the home of Mayor Brent, who was then residing at the southeast corner of Twelfth street and Maryland avenue. Indeed, he en- joyed himself so much that he returned again in a few months. Though Mr. Irving was one of our outstanding and most prolific writers, and was at one time United States Ambassador at Madrid, yet it is probably true that today a majority of the people associate his name most with the simple story of Rip Van Winkle, which, as played by Joe Jefferson, pleased for many years a multi- tude of theatergoers. N THE northwest corner of K and Twelfth sireets stands an old house, where once resided Commodore A. 8. Wadsworth, and here, in 1839, was entertained Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The position of the Wadsworth home, at this time, must have afforded a very pretty view of the surrounding country. It was some distance from town then, and the commo- dore evidently had his horses and carriages, for the early plats show a large stable building to the rear, and even down to the Civil War there was much vacant ground north of this immediate vicinity. Longfellow also came ggain to the “City of Lost Footsteps,” as he termed it, in 1863. Next to the Wadsworth residence lived for many years a family named Solomons, and last April the writer received a nice letter from a member of the family, which told something of the beauty of this old neighborhood in bygone days. The letter. follows: “April 3, 1934, “My Dear Mr. Proctor: “Your articles in the Sunday Star have been intensely interesting to me and to my sisters, and in last Sunday’s issue, when you wrote on K street—of Franklin row—and some of the homes there in the long ago—I felt I must get in touch with you and tell you how much pleas= ure your reminiscences have given us. For over 50 years we lived at 1205 K street, a lovely old home on two terraces, with a garden adjoining, with graveled paths and high rows of “‘box” on either side. One can scarcely visualize its beauty—as it now stands. “I have just been told that you wrote of my father’s book store. He was A. S. Solomons of the firm of Philip & Solomons, and we are most eager to see the article. Will you be good enough to tell me the date on which it appeared s0 I may obtain it? I well remember the store —the photographic gallery—and its interesting surroundings, “Cordially yours, “ISABELLE SOLOMONS.” IGHT above the Wadsworth home, on the north side of the alley, stood for many years the private school and residence of Strong John Thomson, famous early schoolmaster, whose school was later taken over as a public school. The playground attached to the present Strong John Thomson School, at Twelfth and L streets, includes the site of the old school building, and the home of Col. Robert I. Fleming, architect and builder, who constructed many buildings in Washington, including the famous old “Stewart Castle,” well known to all old-timers, which stood on the northwest side of Dupont Circle, Later, Mr. Fleming moved to his new home on Massachusetts avenue, though it is probable that his son, Robert V. Fléming, the genial president of the Riggs National Bank, was born in the Twelfth street residence. Across the street from the Thomson School, at the southeast corner of Twelfth and L streets, lived Prancis Miller, who for many years had his paint store at 307 Ninth street north- west, and Mr. Miller owned other property in this block. On the northeast corner of Thirteenth and K A sketch of Northwest Washington, looking from north side of K street, between Twelfth and Thirteent h streets, made in 1850. streets lived Lewis Clephane, ai: early Washing= ton family, and next door, going east, resided William Grier, a Navy Department official. At the southeast corner of Thirteenth and L streets was the Church of Our Father; still standing in remodeled form. On the northwest corner of Thirteenth and L streets was the grocery store of Michael Green as early as 1860. Edgar Allen Poe, author of the celebrated poem, “The Raven,” once lived, it is said, in a house which formerly occupied the site at 1308 H street northwest. At 1215 I street northwest lived Dr. Swan M. Burnett, and it was, here in the front, third- story room that his wife, Frances Hodgson Burnett, wrote “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” about 1882, It was her home from 1878 to 1885. Of course, none of us will fail to recall that Julia Ward Howe wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”’ at the old Willard Hotel, and that Harriet Beecher Stowe's “Uncle Tom's Cabin” was first published in this city in the columns of the National Era, during the years 1851-52. ‘The office of this paper then stood at about what would be 427 Seventh street, ope posite Odd Fellows' Hxll. ALT WHITMAN was a resident of Wash- ington for nearly 10 years. His name first appears in the city directory of 1864, where he is given as “Walter Whitman, reporter,” and his residence as 394 L street northwest, which, according to the present numbering, would be 1407 L street northwest. In 1867 his address is given as 364 Thirteenth street, which was probably between L street and Massachusetts avenue. In 1868 he becomes “Walt” Whitman and was a clerk in the At- torney General's Office, house address not given. He was similarly employed in 1869 and resided at 472 M street northwest. The fol- lowing year, through a change in the system of numbering, his address on M street became 1205, and his occupation had not changed. In 1871 we find him clerking for the Depart- ment of Justice; home address not given. In 1872, same. In 1873 he became a clerk in the office of the solicitor for the Treasury, and still no home address mentioned. Apparently he quit the Federal service about this time, for subsequent city directories do not carry his name. If Mr. Whitman ever lived on V street northwest, as has been said, it must have been during the years 1871, 1872 and 1873, when no address is given in the directory. Of course, it is always best not to be cocksure of anything without positive proof, but it so happens that in the writer’s youth he lived at the corner of Florida avenue and W street (near Ninth street), and for a while attended school in the lower grades at the corner of Fourteenth and Q streets. This would have been about 1875 and at this date there were few houses between his home and the school, which could be reached almost on a direct line, and he does not recall the house on V street in which Walt Whitman is said to have once lived. N ONE of Mr. Whitman's articles in his “Specimen Days” he tells us of seeing President Lincoln pass near Lis home, almost nearly every day during the hot season. He then lived on L street, at 1407, and his in- teresting account, written at that time, states: “I see the President almost every day, as I happen to live where he passes to or from his lodgings out of town. He never sleeps at the White House during th: hot season, but has quarters at a healthy location some 3 miles north of the city, th> Soldiers’ Home, a United States military establishment. “I saw him this morning about 8:30 coming in to business, riding on Vermont avenue, near L street. He always has a company of 25 or 30 Cavalry, with sabres drawn and held upright over their shoulders. ‘They say this guard was against his personal wish, but he let his